Advancement: Below is information quoted from the Player's Book. Adults and Students both use Karma to advance or buy abilities and powers. The difference between them is Students pay slightly less for cresting. Cresting is the extra Karma cost to actually shift a rank to the next higher rank. Example: Raising a Good 15 to an Excellent 16 is called Cresting.
Ability Advancement: To raise ability ranks cost x10 your current rank number to raise your Power Rank One Point. So to raise a Typical 5 to Typical 6 costs 50 karma; or an Amazing 50 to Amazing 51 costs 500 Karma. To Crest an ability, Adults pay an additional 400 points. Example: Potato Salad Man has been putting Karma aside for ability advancement. He has a Reason of Good (14). It will cost him 140 Karma points to advance to Good (15). It will cost him 150 points plus 400 more for Cresting to reach the next rank number (550 total) of Excellent (16).
Students: Because students start the game with lower ability ranks than most adult heroes, they receive a slight reduction in the cost of Cresting. See costs below...
Power Advancement: Abilities under the character's Powers may be increased through expenditure of Karma. Cost is 20 times the rank number gained, and the cost for cresting is 500 additional points. Any additional increase of rank beyond the first should require a rationale similar to that of the Ability advancement.
Students: Cresting for Powers also costs slightly less for Students. See Below...
Students: No change.
Popularity Advancement: This reflects a concentrated effort to increase the character's Popularity score, and is reflected both by the addition of Karma as well as in specific acts the character must perform. Raising Popularity by one rank number costs 10 times the current rank number. There is no Cresting cost to raise from one Popularity rank to the next. In addition, the character must have performed one publicized act of charity in the past three weeks. (Such acts may increase Popularity in and of themselves -- this merely provides another avenue for Karma-rich but press-poor characters.)
Students: No change.
Power Addition: Heroes may increase their Powers by spending Karma. The cost of an additional Power is 3000 plus 40 times the starting rank number. New Powers (as opposed to Power Stunts, which are relatively cheap) must have a rationale of some type.
Students: W.I.P.
Talent Addition: Heroes may add to the Talents they have by spending Karma into the advancement pool and seeking training. Additional Talents must always have a rationale. If your character wants to learn Martial Arts D, she must find someone to teach her. Characters may learn from other player characters at a cost of 2000 points, or from NPCs at a cost of 1000 points per Talent. (This is to get them out the house.)
Students: Those students who have paid 10 Character Points for the Student Talent may purchase Talents from other Players for 1000 Karma or from NPC's for 800 Karma.
Xavier's School: Those students who study at Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters get an additional 20% off the cost of talents. So regular students pay 800 karma and those with the Student Talent pay 640 Karma. This is only until they graduate High School.
Contact Addition: Heroes may add to the Contacts they have by spending into this advancement pool and seeking out the Contacts. Such Contacts should fall into two categories: contacts the hero has met or dealt with, and contacts that existed in the time previous to the start of play. (Thor, for example, had several adventures before his connections with Asgard were revealed -- in game terms, the player of Thor saved up his Karma and picked up the Contact.) If the Contact is one the character has encountered, that Contact should be Friendly or Neutral (not Unfriendly or Hostile). Contacts cost 500 points plus 10 times the Resource rank number of the Contact. A brief list of Contacts for the Marvel Universe are listed in Appendix C.
Students: No Change.
Quote:As characters develop in the MARVEL SUPER HEROES RPG, they may increase in levels, Powers, and abilities. This is known as advancement. In order to advance, individual players must create a separate listing or fund of Karma. Karma placed in that column will be used for a specific type of Advancement: Ability Advancement, Resource Advancement, Popularity Advancement, Power Advancement, Power Addition, Talent Addition, or Contact Addition.
• Ability Advancement is the increase of any of the seven primary abilities (FASERIP).
• Resource Advancement is the increase of the Resource ability, and reflects that the character is spending time and energy increasing his wealth.
• Popularity Advancement is an attempt to increase the character's Popularity rank, via the old PR campaign. Given the fluid nature of Popularity, this is used in cases where the hero has suffered from a smear campaign or other negative Popularity modifiers.
• Power Advancement is the increase in superhuman abilities the character already possesses, and reflects a fine honing of those abilities.
• Power Addition is the gaining of new Powers, either through experimentation, latent abilities coming to the fore, or further modification of the character.
• Talent Addition is the gaining of a new Talent from those listed on the Talent Table, or the development of a new Talent.
• Contact Addition is the gaining of additional Contacts, and reflects a previously unrevealed or newly gained Contact. As campaign play itself often creates new Contacts, this advancement pool is not often used.
Karma put aside must be put them for one of the seven purposes above. A character may not have an Advancement fund set up for more than one of the seven purposes, but, after making a purchase in one area, may move the remaining Karma to another area.
Ability Advancement: To raise ability ranks cost x10 your current rank number to raise your Power Rank One Point. So to raise a Typical 5 to Typical 6 costs 50 karma; or an Amazing 50 to Amazing 51 costs 500 Karma. To Crest an ability, Adults pay an additional 400 points. Example: Potato Salad Man has been putting Karma aside for ability advancement. He has a Reason of Good (14). It will cost him 140 Karma points to advance to Good (15). It will cost him 150 points plus 400 more for Cresting to reach the next rank number (550 total) of Excellent (16).
Students: Because students start the game with lower ability ranks than most adult heroes, they receive a slight reduction in the cost of Cresting. See costs below...
- Feeble to Poor = +100 Karma
- Poor to Typical = +200 Karma
- Typical to Good = +300 Karma
- Good to Excellent = +400 Karma for every rank here after.
Power Advancement: Abilities under the character's Powers may be increased through expenditure of Karma. Cost is 20 times the rank number gained, and the cost for cresting is 500 additional points. Any additional increase of rank beyond the first should require a rationale similar to that of the Ability advancement.
Students: Cresting for Powers also costs slightly less for Students. See Below...
- Feeble to Poor = +100 Karma
- Poor to Typical = +200 Karma
- Typical to Good = +400 Karma
- Good to Excellent = +500 Karma for every rank here after.
Students: No change.
Popularity Advancement: This reflects a concentrated effort to increase the character's Popularity score, and is reflected both by the addition of Karma as well as in specific acts the character must perform. Raising Popularity by one rank number costs 10 times the current rank number. There is no Cresting cost to raise from one Popularity rank to the next. In addition, the character must have performed one publicized act of charity in the past three weeks. (Such acts may increase Popularity in and of themselves -- this merely provides another avenue for Karma-rich but press-poor characters.)
Students: No change.
Power Addition: Heroes may increase their Powers by spending Karma. The cost of an additional Power is 3000 plus 40 times the starting rank number. New Powers (as opposed to Power Stunts, which are relatively cheap) must have a rationale of some type.
Students: W.I.P.
Talent Addition: Heroes may add to the Talents they have by spending Karma into the advancement pool and seeking training. Additional Talents must always have a rationale. If your character wants to learn Martial Arts D, she must find someone to teach her. Characters may learn from other player characters at a cost of 2000 points, or from NPCs at a cost of 1000 points per Talent. (This is to get them out the house.)
Students: Those students who have paid 10 Character Points for the Student Talent may purchase Talents from other Players for 1000 Karma or from NPC's for 800 Karma.
Xavier's School: Those students who study at Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters get an additional 20% off the cost of talents. So regular students pay 800 karma and those with the Student Talent pay 640 Karma. This is only until they graduate High School.
Contact Addition: Heroes may add to the Contacts they have by spending into this advancement pool and seeking out the Contacts. Such Contacts should fall into two categories: contacts the hero has met or dealt with, and contacts that existed in the time previous to the start of play. (Thor, for example, had several adventures before his connections with Asgard were revealed -- in game terms, the player of Thor saved up his Karma and picked up the Contact.) If the Contact is one the character has encountered, that Contact should be Friendly or Neutral (not Unfriendly or Hostile). Contacts cost 500 points plus 10 times the Resource rank number of the Contact. A brief list of Contacts for the Marvel Universe are listed in Appendix C.
Students: No Change.
